External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar disclosed that his father was on a hijacked flight in 1984. He mentioned that he had a unique perspective on such situations, having experienced them from both the viewpoint of family members and those in the government.
Jaishankar shared this during a community event, in response to a question about a recent television series depicting the hijacking of IC814 in 1999.
He recounted how, as a young officer at the time, he was part of the team handling the hijack situation and simultaneously part of the group of families exerting pressure on the government.
During the question and answer session after his address to the Indian community, a member of the audience asked the Minister about his comments on the recently released series 'IC814: The Kandahar Hijack' on Netflix, which he said, showed “the bureaucracy and the government dealing with hijacking in poor light.” With a disclaimer that he has not watched the series, Jaishankar went on to reveal his personal connection with the hijacking incident.
“In 1984 there was a hijacking. I was a very young officer. I was part of the team which was dealing with it. I rang up my mother, actually, to tell her, ‘Look, I can't come. There's a hijacking,” he said elaborating how it was his turn to go home and feed his young son as his wife too was working.
“And then I discovered, my father was on the flight. The flight ended up in Dubai. It's a long story, but fortunately, nobody got killed. It could have ended as a problem,” he added.
The Indian Airlines flight from Delhi to Srinagar was hijacked over Pathankot and then diverted to Dubai on August 24, 1984. Eventually, 12 pro-Khalistani hijackers surrendered to authorities after more than 36 hours, ensuring that all 68 passengers and six crew members were released unharmed.
Following his career as an IFS officer, Jaishankar went on to become a minister after retiring. His father, K Subrahmanyam, was an IAS officer and a frequent commentator on strategic matters.
“And it was interesting because on the one hand, I was part of the team which was working on the hijacking. On the other hand, I was part of the family members who are pressing the government for the hijacking. So actually, I have that very unique window on both sides, in that sense of the problem,” he added.
“So, often these are situations and movie guys don't make the governments look good. The hero is supposed to look good. Then nobody would watch the movie and you got to accept that,” he commented, evoking peals of laughter from the audience.
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